IB World Religions 7.2.1. Rites of Passage: Naming, Amrit Sanskar, Anand Karaj and Death Notes

7.2.1. Rites of Passage: Naming, Amrit Sanskar, Anand Karaj and Death

The naming ceremony

1. Sikhs name a child at the gurdwara, usually within a few weeks of birth and once the mother is able to attend. The family brings the baby before the Guru Granth Sahib.
2. The congregation offers Ardas, the Sikh prayer, giving thanks for the birth and asking for the child's welfare. Karah parshad, the sweet food given through God's grace, is then shared.
3. The name itself comes from the scripture. The Guru Granth Sahib is opened at random, and the first letter of the first word on the left hand page fixes the letter the child's name must begin with.
4. The parents choose a name starting with that letter, and the granthi announces it to the congregation, who confirm it. The name is therefore given by the Guru rather than by the family alone.
5. Sikh first names are gender free. The same name may be given to a boy or a girl, and the distinction is carried only by adding Singh for a boy and Kaur for a girl.
6. The ceremony makes no commitment on the child's behalf. Sikhs hold that initiation into the Khalsa must be chosen by someone old enough to understand what is being undertaken.

Amrit sanskar as initiation

1. Amrit sanskar is the ceremony by which a Sikh enters the Khalsa. It is opted for by some Sikhs rather than required of all, and it is taken at an age when the undertaking can be understood.
2. Five initiated Sikhs conduct it, called the Panj Piare, the five beloved ones, after the five who first answered Guru Gobind Singh in 1699.
3. The amrit is prepared in an iron bowl: water and sugar crystals stirred with a khanda, a double-edged sword, while five prescribed passages of bani are recited.
4. The candidate drinks amrit from cupped hands, receives it sprinkled on the eyes and on the hair, and repeats the Khalsa salutation after each administration.
5. The Panj Piare then set out the Rahit Maryada, the Sikh code of conduct, with the obligations it carries: the daily prayers, the wearing of the five Ks, and the acts an initiated Sikh must avoid.

Anand karaj and the lavan

1. Anand karaj means the ceremony of bliss, and it is the Sikh marriage rite. It takes place before the Guru Granth Sahib, usually in a gurdwara and usually in the morning.
2. The rite has prescribed stages. It opens with Ardas and a hymn, and the granthi explains the duties the couple are taking on and describes marriage as a partnership of equals.
3. The heart of the ceremony is the lavan, four verses composed by Guru Ram Das. Each verse is read aloud and then sung while the couple, joined by a length of cloth, walk clockwise around the Guru Granth Sahib and bow to it.
4. The verses describe a spiritual progression rather than a domestic arrangement. Marriage is presented as an image of the soul's union with God, and the couple's life together as the setting for it.
5. There is no exchange of vows and no officiant with authority to marry. Walking the four rounds before the scripture is what constitutes the marriage.
6. The ceremony ends with Ardas, a final hymn and karah parshad, after which the families move to langar. Legal registration follows the law of the country, and many gurdwaras outside India are licensed for it.

Death rites and cremation

1. Sikhs treat death as the jot moving on rather than as an ending. Sohila, the hymn said nightly before sleep, is also recited at a death, so the same words cover both.
2. The body is washed and dressed by family members. It is clothed in clean garments and, for an initiated Sikh, in the five Ks, which are not removed at death.
3. Cremation is the norm. Sikhs hold that the body has served its purpose and that what mattered has already gone, so the remains are treated respectfully but without effort to preserve them.
4. Ashes are usually scattered in running water or buried without a marker. Sikh teaching forbids monuments to the dead, so gravestones, shrines and memorial structures are avoided.
5. The prohibition follows from doctrine. A monument would invite people to attend to a body and a place when Sikhs hold that the jot is no longer there.
6. Mourning is restrained by design. Loud lamentation is discouraged, and the family and sangat recite bani and offer Ardas instead of performing mourning rituals.

Readings after a death

1. Sikh families mark a death with a complete reading of the Guru Granth Sahib. The reading may be continuous or spread over days, and it takes place at the gurdwara or at home.
2. Akhand Path is the continuous reading, taken by a relay of readers without a break from beginning to end. It takes roughly forty eight hours.
3. Sahaj path is the same complete reading taken at a gentler pace over several days or weeks, often by the family themselves, which lets people in work take part.
4. Sukhmani path is a reading of the Sukhmani Sahib, a long composition of Guru Arjan whose name means the psalm of peace. It is read for comfort at a death and at other times.
5. The readings are not offered to alter the state of the dead. Sikhs hold that what the jot receives is settled by the life lived and by God's grace, so the reading is for the living.
6. Anniversaries are marked the same way. Families often arrange an Akhand Path on the anniversary of a death, and the same reading marks births, marriages, house moves and gurpurbs.

Ardas across the rites

1. Every Sikh rite of passage rests on the same two elements: the presence of the Guru Granth Sahib and the prayer called Ardas.
2. The same prayer therefore covers naming, initiation, marriage and death. Sikhs describe this as placing every stage of a life inside one continuous relationship with God.
3. No rite requires a priest. A granthi, a committee member or any competent Sikh may lead, and the Panj Piare who conduct amrit sanskar are ordinary initiated Sikhs.
4. Practice varies across the Panth. Diaspora communities adapt timing, dress and catering to local conditions, and Sikhs distinguish such customs from the prescribed elements of a rite.
5. Sikhs who have not taken amrit take part in all of these rites. Naming, marriage and death belong to the whole community, and only amrit sanskar marks a separate commitment.